— Corporate travel and payments relationship expanded with addition of global management of meetings —
New York, NY, May 6, 2015– American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) and American Express Company today announced the expansion of their existing corporate travel and payments relationships with Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada. In addition, GBT will become the global (North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America) provider for end-to-end strategic meetings management services to Merck. American Express Meetings & Events, a division of GBT, was selected to consolidate suppliers for strategic meetings management while enhancing compliance, transparency, and service excellence for those efforts.
“Merck has always been on the front lines of innovation in their industry and we’ve worked closely with them to carry a cutting-edge approach through to their Travel Management and Expense Management functions, as those categories continue to evolve”, said Vincent Campana, Vice President & General Manager, Global Client Group, American Express Global Business Travel. “Meetings & Events is a less mature category of corporate spend and requires a similar strategic approach and level of active management, and a consistent global framework to deliver the appropriate controls. We are very pleased to have earned this assignment from this key customer.”
GBT and American Express Company’s Global Corporate Payments business, which continue to stay closely aligned following the creation of the GBT joint venture, are delivering an integrated, end-to-end solution that addresses travel, meetings, and payments needs for Merck. GBT will expand its corporate travel services to an additional 32 countries with a key focus on global governance, cost savings, policy, and service. American Express Meetings & Events will provide Merck with comprehensive global meeting solutions in the areas of sourcing, management, program governance, and compliance in 56 geographies. American Express Company’s existing Corporate Payment services with Merck will grow to provide related solutions as a result of the meetings and events and travel expansion.
GBT and American Express Company have considerable experience supporting customers in the pharmaceutical and healthcare space and will provide deep industry insight, specifically offering up proven methodologies and innovative solutions to support the design, implementation, and ongoing operation of this comprehensive program.
About American Express Global Business Travel
American Express Global Business Travel enables corporations and empowers business travelers with insights, connections and exceptional customer service on a global scale. Through technology and information, American Express Global Business Travel provides leading travel solutions, integrated consulting services, proprietary research, and end-to-end meetings and events capabilities. These innovative offerings enable clients to optimize the return on their travel and meetings investments.
American Express Global Business Travel has operations and network partners in nearly 140 countries worldwide with approximately 14,000 employees. American Express Global Business Travel ranked first among corporate travel providers in the 2014 Corporate Travel 100 (“CT100”), an annual listing compiled by Business Travel News which ranks companies with the largest volume of U.S. air bookings. Learn more about how American Express Global Business Travel connects the world at www.amexglobalbusinesstravel.com.
American Express Global Business Travel (“GBT”) is a joint venture that is not wholly-owned by American Express Company or any of its subsidiaries (“American Express”). “American Express Global Business Travel”, “American Express” and the American Express logo are trademarks of American Express, and are used under limited license.
About American Express Meetings and Events
American Express Meetings & Events, a division of American Express Global Business Travel, offers longstanding experience, expertise and leading capabilities spanning program implementation to budget optimization to deliver powerful meetings and events experiences for clients. The global team is focused on meetings and events sourcing, planning, contract negotiations, budgeting, expense management, reporting and benchmarking, combined with strategic counsel and integration of leading technology. This end-to-end approach focuses on creating visibility, driving savings and enabling effective meeting experiences.
With more than 40 years in the industry and a presence in over 50 countries, American Express Meetings & Events is uniquely positioned to manage meetings and events locally, regionally, internationally and across the globe. American Express Meetings & Events works with local leaders to enhance its offering to clients. American Express Meetings & Events was named to MeetingsNet’s 2014 “CMI 25” list, an annual directory of the largest and most influential full-service meeting and incentive travel management companies focused on the U.S. corporate meetings and incentives industry. According to that list, American Express Meetings & Events managed the highest number of corporate meetings and incentive travel programs, as well as the most rooms booked for meetings in 2013. To learn more about the services offered by American Express Meetings & Events, visit https://www.amexglobalbusinesstravel.com/meetings-events/
About American Express Global Corporate Payments
Through its Global Corporate Payments division, American Express offers a suite of B2B and T&E payment solutions that help organizations streamline processes and transform them into opportunities for savings, control and efficiency. American Express can help your organization increase working capital flexibility and strengthen relationships with suppliers. For more information, visit https://business.americanexpress.com/us and linkedin.com/company/american-express-global-corporate-payments.
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